Safety-guard for railway-frogs



(No Model.)

J. P. WEBB.

SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILWAY FROGS, 8:0.

No. 279,849. A Patented June 19,1888.

Atdest; fnvertal z /jig UNITED TATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEAN F. XVEBB, OF LEBANON, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY-GUARD FOR RAlLWAY-FROGS, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,849, dated June 19, 1883.

Application filed December 11, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may 00ncern:

Be it known that I, JEAN F. NVEBB, of Lebanon, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Safety- Guards for Railway-Frogs, &c., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view, and Fig. 2 a transverse section.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the common elastic safety-guards for railway-frogs, 85c. and inyinvention consists, first, in slitting the guard, and, secondly, in providing it with a solid base, as more fully deseribedhereinafter, and for the purposehereinafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings. A represents a section of a frog having the ordinary V or boot-jack shaped openings, B. Accidents frequently occur by persons getting their feet fast in these openingsas, for instance, a brakenian or other einploy, backing while signaling a train and 'attendingto other duties, wedges one of his feet into one of these openings, and before he is able to extract it the advancing train has reached him. Such accidents have been avoided by placing elastic fillings C in the openings, which are suffi ciently rigid to support the weight of a person, but which will yield under the weight of a car as the flanges of the wheels pass over the fillings, so as not to lift the wheels from the rails.

The first part of my invention consists in providing or forming in these elastic fillings slits D to receive the flanges of the wheels, in which there are two great advantages, viz: The wheels do not wear the fillings out so quickly and the fillings do not act to retard the movement of the train, both of these advantages being of considerable practical importance.

My invention further consists in placing beneath these elastic fillings wooden or me tallie base-plates E, in which there are also at least two advantagesi. 0., they support the fillings between the ties, so that they are not liable to yield at these points if trodden upon; and this material being much cheaper than the elastic material, there is quite a saving in cost of the filling.

I am aware that it is not new to provide railway-frogs, 850., with elastic safety-guards and to provide said guards with central longitudinal grooves, and I do not claim to be the inventor thereof; but

WVhat I do claim as my invention is-- 1. An elastic filling for railway-frogs, an, having longitudinal slits'to receive the flanges of the wheels, asset forth.

2. An elastic filling for railway-frogs, &c., in combination with a solid base-plate, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JEAN F. XVEBB.

Vitnesses GEO. H. KNIGHT, CHAS. B. FISHER. 

